To Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter summaries).

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Introduction

To Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter summaries) Chapter 1 In this first chapter Scout Finch tells us the history of the Finch family and gives a description of Maycomb which is the town that they live in. She describes it as being an old, humid, sleepy and laidback town where everyone knows each others business. Scout also tells us about the day when she and her brother Jem first met Dill Harris. She then goes on to tell us about how they told Dill all about Boo Radley and how the more they told him the more he became fascinated with the Radley house and what Boo Radley looked like. Then Dill got the idea that they should try to make him come out of the house. This lead to Dill betting that Jem wouldn't get any further than the Radley gate. She then tells us how it took Jem three days to make up his mind about doing the dare and how Dill said that he wouldn't say Jem ran out on the dare if he just went up and touched the house, Jem agreed to this and he ran up to the house followed by scout and Dill and slapped it with the palm of his hand. He then sped back to the porch of his own home; once he got there he looked back. The house was still the same, droopy and sick but as they continued to stare down the street they thought they saw an inside shutter move but they couldn't be sure. Chapter 2 In this chapter Scout describes to us her first day at school, and she said she had never looked forward more too any thing in her life. She talks about how Jem walked her to school on her first day because Atticus had said that Jem would be delighted to do it but she suspected that Atticus had given Jem some money for doing it. ...read more.

Middle

Chapter 11 In this chapter we see that Scout and Jem have grown up and that they are not content with playing in their street but they are drawn into the town. To get into the town they have to pass by Mrs Dubose's house and each time they do this she sends a constant barrage of insults in their direction. One day when she insults Atticus and how he brought them up and that he was ruining the family and later that day when they passed by again and saw Mrs Dubose wasn't on her porch Jem trashed the camellia bushes in her garden. When Atticus returned home he told Jem to go and talk to Mrs Dubose. When Jem returned he Atticus told him that he was to read to her everyday apart from Sundays. Every time Jem went to read Mrs Dubose would have a fit and when her alarm sounded they were ushered out. Each day they stayed for longer and longer until she said the no longer had to read to her and sent them away without the alarm going off. Later in the year Atticus was called to Mrs Dubose's and when he arrived home later he told Jem that she was dead. He then explained that she was a morphine addict and that she left the world free of her habit because each day she took her medicine later and later. Chapter 12 In this chapter Scout notices that Jem has changed and when she asks Cal and Atticus about it they both say he is just growing up. When summer came Dill didn't come but he sent Scout a letter and a picture. The letter said that Dill had a new father and that he was staying in meridian to build a fishing-boat. We also hear how when Atticus was away Cal took Scout and Jem to her church because she didn't trust them to be left alone. ...read more.

Conclusion

Jem leads Scout back in the dark, and they hear noises behind them. They think it must be Cecil following them at first, until the supposed prank carries on too long. Somebody attacks Scout, there is a big scuffle, there is a crunching sound from beneath her dress and Jem screams. As scout reels from a blow she hears a man wheeze then cough and stagger away groaning. Scout finds a man on the ground that smells of whiskey and a man carries Jem back to the Finch home. Heck Tate arrives and says that he has found Bob Ewell dead under the Radley's' tree with a knife in his ribs. Chapter 29 In this chapter Heck Tate asks Scout if she would tell him what happened. She tells him what happened and he asks to see her costume. When he sees it he points out a clean line in the dull metal chicken wire. This is where he has attacked Scout. When Tate asks her who brought Jem back to the house she points to a man in the corner. She realise who it is. It is Boo Radley. Chapter 30 Doctor Reynolds arrives and asks everyone to leave the room while he examines Jem. Atticus, Heck, Boo and Scout go on to the porch. Atticus discusses the incident with Tate but doesn't understand why he insists Ewell fell on the knife. He eventually understood that Tate was trying to protect Boo's privacy. Chapter 31 Scout takes Boo to see Jem who is asleep in his room. Then at Boo's request she walks him home and that is the last she saw of him. As Scout walks home she looks back at the incidents that have happened from Boo's viewpoint and contemplates Atticus' moral of seeing things as if standing in another's shoes. Scout joined Atticus beside the sleeping Jem and very soon after Atticus begins to read her 'the grey ghost' she fell asleep. ...read more.

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This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Harper Lee section.

Also when Mrs. Dubose insulted Atticus to Jem by saying 'Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for.' This made Jem furious and he reacted very irrationally, cutting the tops off of every single camellia in her garden. Atticus agreed to the punishment Mrs.

Back at school, there's a big scene when Miss Caroline screams upon seeing a louse ("cootie") crawl off of the head of one of the boys in the class. This boy, Burris Ewell, comes from a family so poor that Atticus say they "live like animals."

The mockingbird is an example of symbol of many things that is commonly used throughout the book. The first use of it is when Scout, Jem and Atticus are at the table and Jem asks Atticus about his first gun, then Atticus replies that when his father had given him

Nobody ever knew how many children Bob Ewell had, but I don't think it really mattered to him. Mayella Ewell could be considered as the mother figure for the family, but even her father beats her. During and after the courtroom the community of Maycomb still had no respect for

charged at him with disorderly conduct which sent him straight to industrial school. He was not seen again for 15 years. Atticus Finch and Nathan Radley have completely opposite parenting styles, Atticus is more laid back in the way he treats his children.

Chapter 20 Quote: "'The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two whiteness whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant.

and his sheer bravery in the face of death (Nathan Radley threatening to shoot any trespassers). This can also be interpreted as an act of maturity as he is settling his own despites with out the guidance of an adult.